The Eleanor Venture

The Eleanor Venture Grant honors the Foundation’s founder and longtime president Eleanor Flanders. It provides a teacher with an educational travel experience to either a domestic or international destination. Such an experience is expected to enhance the teacher’s classroom skills, expand curriculum options and ultimately benefit future students directly.

This annual grant provides the perfect tribute to Eleanor Flanders. Beginning in early WWII, Eleanor began putting away a little money here … and a little money there for her investments. She called the fund ‘The Eleanor Venture’. As time passed Eleanor used this money to travel … from the state college in Kansas to places all over the world. With each trip she felt renewed and energized, and her world view expanded. When asked how she might be honored upon her retirement, Eleanor looked back over her years and decided that the directors could best honor her by investing in a teacher – giving that teacher the funds for a significant travel experience.

While such an experience can be given to only a few teachers over time, it is intended to honor all teachers and to tell them how important they are. It is expected that the trip would not only renew, energize and educate the teacher involved but that the teacher’s experience would be brought home to their classroom, fellow teachers and students and provide broad-based benefits for a long time to come.

Interested in the Eleanor Venture?

TEV Recipients

Each spring the Foundation’s Board of Directors gladly award the Eleanor Venture Travel Grant to one deserving St. Vrain Valley School District teacher to use on domestic or international travel which ultimately enriches the classroom experience.

Beginning in 2004, district teachers have used the travel grants to travel to many exciting destinations.